Tomato Onion Pachadi

About the Recipe

Pachadi aka chutneys are a staple in Indian cooking and in South India, day begins with preparation of a chutney for breakfast and we have a wide range of chutneys with nuts and vegetables.  Tomato onion pachadi with sesame and peanuts is one of them.

We also make pachadi with tomato red bell peppers, zucchini tomatoes, zucchini and other vegetables. These also go well with South Indian tiffins and use the leftovers for lunch. You can check all the pachadi/chutney varieties here.

Most common tomato pachadi in Telangana is without onion and is usually served with rice.  Today’s recipe is a variation to that with the addition of onion, which my mother in law used to make for breakfast and it goes well even with rice.  

Tomatoes are cooked in a tempering of basic Indian spices, green chilies, onion and garlic.  Then ground to a fine paste with some tamarind, roasted sesame seeds and/or peanuts.

It is a quick and easy, under 15 minutes recipe, excluding the time to cool the tomato mixture.  For a nuts & seeds free tomato onion chutney, skip those in the recipe or, check the Chettinad tomato chutney.

Ingredients

Tomatoes - use vine tomatoes for the best taste. Folks in India can use desi tomatoes. These are our preferred varieties but any tangy variety of tomatoes work. When the tomatoes are not tangy, use a little more tamarind/lime juice, according to your taste.

Onion - any variety of onions work in the recipe.  I normally do not add jaggery or sugar to chutneys.  For slightly sweetish taste, recommend using red onions.

Chilies - green chilies are preferred and for a vibrant color, use a combination of green and red chilies. When using a combination of green and dry red chilies, use more green chilies. Taste of the chutney changes depending on the chilies used.

Garlic - we love garlic in tomato chutney and you can cut down a bit if you are not a big fan of garlic.  Use asafetida when skipping garlic. I highly recommend using garlic.

Tamarind - I use homemade tamarind extract.  If you do not have it on hand, wash and use a small blackberry size tamarind and adjust it depending on its tanginess.  You can also it substitute with lime/lemon juice.

Sesame & Peanuts - I use both sesame and peanuts but you can use one of these too.  I have made it with only sesame and with only peanuts.  Both taste fine.  

Other Ingredients - oil, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, turmeric, salt and cilantro/kothmir.

Instructions

Time consuming prep work for onion tomato chutney is roasting sesame seeds and peanuts. Dry roast these and keep aside.

TIP - Roast sesame seeds and peanuts separately in bulk and store in a glass jar.  This way you can powder the seeds and nuts as needed when preparing Indian chutneys and curries. This cuts down the prep time considerably.   

When pressed for time, you can also roast sesame and peanuts along with whole spices in step 1, below.

Wash all the veggies and herbs, and keep aside. Wash and keep tamarind aside when using whole tamarind. I use homemade tamarind extract, which comes where handy when preparing chutneys. 

Step 1 - Heat a pan with some oil. Pop mustard, cumin and fenugreek seeds.  Then add onion, garlic, green chili and curry leaves. Saute for a minue or two until chilies change color.

Step 2 - Add salt, turmeric and give a good mix.  Then add tomatoes, mix, cover and cook until soft.

Step 3 - Add cilantro, peanuts, sesame seeds, tamarind, stir well. Turn off the flame and let the mixture cool.

Step 4 - Transfer to a mixie/blender jar and grind to a fine paste. Add water as needed.

Optional Step - Prepare a simple tadka with little oil, mustard seeds, red chili & curry leaf.  Pour it over the pachadi. 

Serve & Store

Serve tomato onion pachadi with idli, dosa, oats dosa, biyyam attlu (no ferment rice flour dosa), vada and plain steamed rice.  Refrigerate the leftovers for up to 5 days.

Tips

• Tomatoes - I use vine ripe tomatoes and find these tomatoes more tangy than the other variety. You can use other varieties too, but adjust tamarind extract depending on the tanginess of tomatoes.
• Tamarind - Adjust tamarind extract depending on how tangy it is and also the tanginess of tomatoes used in the pachadi. If you do not have tamarind extract handy, wash required amount of tamarind and cook along with tomatoes.  
• Homemade Tamarind Extract - to make this at home, wash tamarind and soak in minimum water just until tamarind is immersed in water.  Extract pulp and cook extracted pulp with little salt until it thickens.  You can store this in refrigerator or freezer. Second method is to wash tamarind, pressure cook in Instant Pot with some water. When pressure releases, extract the pulp and simmer it until the mixture thickens. You can also follow pulihora paste recipe and use only tamarind and salt.
• Roast Peanuts & Sesame - Dry roast a large batch of peanuts and sesame seeds separately. Cool and store these in air tight containers. Having roasted sesame and peanuts handy cuts down the prep work when preparing a chutney.
• How to Roast Sesame Seeds - Wash seeds in hot water and put in strainer.  Washing seeds in hot water is to remove any smell from the seeds. When water has drained, dry roast the seeds on medium - medium high flame until seeds are dry, toasted and crush into powder when pressed between thumb and index finger.

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